Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-05-06
FRIDAY MORNING. MAY. 6, 1887
STATE RIGHTS EXHUMED.

STATE RIGdIS EAH UMED.
The unwilling at Charleston, S. c., last
week, of the statue of John Z. Calhoun
the apostle of States rights of his time
and the commemorative address delivered
by Secretary Lamar, will, in all probabili-
ty renew the national interest In the doc
trines he taught. and with better appre-
citation of them under the more favorable
circumstances that have come since their
advocate has passed away. He left the
stage of life just as the middle aged men of
this day were born. and to the masses now
his name stands rather as the synonime for
secession and notification than as the
name of true patriot whose life was in
all respects illustrious. He was of the peo-
pie, and came from an Irish ancestry that
filtered through Pennsylvania and Virgin
la down into South Carolina. giving him an
excellent Virginia mother on the way
through. Born just one hundred years ago,
he grew up with the Republic from the in
fancy Of both. His early education was In a
South Carolina country school, his collegi-
-ste in Connecticut college, and his early
law study in Yankee lawyers Office in
Connecticut village. He entered Congress
from a South Carolina district at the early
age of tWenty-three, and from that time
till his death was in public life. during
which he was Vice President under An
drew jackson and Secretary of State un-
der John Tyler.
mo- a q
nullIfier, but with it he was also patriot.
He sincerely held. what in the light of
later events proves to have been a politi-
cal chimera, that notification was way
to preserve the Union while secession
would only destroy it and the seeding
Commonwealth; that it was possible for d
State to nullify the national laws and yet
remain IN and under the national govern
ment in respect to those laws she did not
nullify. His doctrine was that ''Nullif-
cation leaves the members of the associa-
ton or union in the condition it found
them-subject to all its burdens, and en-
titled to all its advantages, comprehend
ing the member nullifylng as well as the
others-its object being not to destroy but
to preserve, as has been stated.
Secession. on the contrary, destroys as far
as the withdrawing member is concerned,
the association Or union" We at this
day know that no such situation could
have held place in the Union, but
I logical hairs had not yet been split by the
sword in that day as they have been since.
The shells that fell around his grave in
old st. Phillips church yard long years
afterwards. emphasized the fact that there
was no difference, in result, between null
LITIGATION and secession and that like Gov
Wise's Fighting ID the union" it led the
way out of the Union.
But if he could not foresee the climax
which came, it does not lessen the value
of the bulk Of his teachings about State
rights and their value in keeping the
Union on an even keel. No American
statesman ever weighed more nicely the
State and Federal rights, nor showed
more clearly the danger to the Republic
which would follow the weakening of the
former. It was slavery tha5 gave those
rights an almost mortal wound. but The
death of slavery should restore item to
health and vitality. 1t ia not now a Sec
tional question. 1t Is corrective of CEN
tralization which is essential TO the long
life and equipoise of the republic, and tbs
young American will be wise in his gener-
alton if he master'.>Hen few Of the vita
truths taught by tho Feat South Carroll
MAN. TIE edusss sts s-ts the young needed
to-day Is not the hair splitting expended
on purifying up ,cracks in the constitution
but in learning the great principles in
volved in the adjustment of Federal and
State powers III the unerring balances OF
patriotism.